(Bloomberg/Mark Bergen and Brody Ford) — Databricks is raising over $4 billion in a new funding round that values the software firm at $134 billion, another example of how some tech companies are achieving massive scale without going public.
The new financing is being led by Insight Partners, Fidelity Management & Research Co. and JP Morgan Asset Management, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, it said in a statement Tuesday. The funding round also included funds from BlackRock and Blackstone, a sign that some of the largest money managers are getting more active in private company investments. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported on details about the fundraising.
Databricks is one of the larger players in the area of data software and seeks to compete with public firms such as Oracle Corp. and Snowflake Inc. The startup had raised $1 billion at a $100 billion valuation just a few months ago. The fact that it’s securing yet another round at a significantly higher valuation underscores the persistently strong appetite among investors for bets on artificial intelligence.
Unlike other large AI firms, like OpenAI and Anthropic, Databricks doesn’t build chatbots or consumer products. Instead, it has focused on helping businesses make the most of the rush of features, apps and autonomous agents. That includes helping clients analyze and build AI apps and services with data from a variety of sources.
Databricks plans to use the funds in part to allow its employees to conduct secondary share sales, according to the statement. It also expects to add thousands of new jobs, including AI researchers, expanding an AI lab that currently only employs about 100 people, Chief Executive Officer Ali Ghodsi told the Journal.
The company passed $4.8 billion in revenue run-rate, which is up 55% year over year, it said in the statement. In September, it had touted a revenue run rate of $4 billion. Earlier investors include ventures firms Andreessen Horowitz and Thrive Capital, as well as Abu Dhabi fund MGX and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund.
Other startups including OpenAI and Stripe have achieved massive valuations as large-scale companies without tapping public markets. One such company, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, is planning an initial public offering after reaching an $800 billion valuation in private markets.
Ghodsi told Bloomberg earlier that his firm didn’t have a fixed date for a public listing. “I will say this,” he said in September. “If the plan was to really stay private long term, we wouldn’t have focused on being cash-flow break-even.”
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